Where a debtor executed a promissory note on behalf of a company controlled by her daughter and son-in-law and the bank required that the debtor’s then husband execute a deed of trust to create a lien on the couple’s principal ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Paul M. Black U.S. Bankruptcy Court

A debtor who failed on four separate occasions to file a feasible plan will not get a fifth opportunity. Instead, the court held the debtor’s repeated failures, which were based upon unreliable and inaccurate financial projections, were unlikely to be ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Paul M. Black U.S. Bankruptcy Court U.S. District Court - Western District

The creditor’s heirs in a case involving a company declared bankrupt in 1931 persuaded the court that an assignment agreement entitling another person to distributions was never enforced, and should not be enforced now. Background In 1931, Yellow Poplar Lumber ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Paul M. Black U.S. Bankruptcy Court

A tenant with “slovenly living habits” who knowingly, deliberately and intentionally caused damage to his landlord’s property was not entitled to discharge the majority portion of debt caused by his conduct. Background In Aug. 2013, the debtors signed a one-year ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Paul M. Black U.S. Bankruptcy Court

Most of a tenant couple’s debt to their former landlord, based on unpaid rent and the poor conditions in which they left the rental, was dischargeable. The court held a small percentage to be non-dischargeable based on evidence that, in ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Paul M. Black Landlord/Tenant U.S. District Court - Western District

Most of a tenant couple’s debt to their former landlord, based on unpaid rent and the poor conditions in which they left the rental, was dischargeable. The court held a small percentage to be non-dischargeable based on evidence that, in ...

Tagged with: Judge Paul M. Black Landlord/Tenant U.S. Bankruptcy Court

A bankruptcy court awarded some fees incurred to recover the debtor’s wrongly garnished wages, but said that counsel should have resolved the issue in the bankruptcy proceeding rather than filing two additional adversary suits. Further, especially in light of quarter-hour ...

Tagged with: Attorneys Fees Bankruptcy Civil Procedure Judge Paul M. Black U.S. Bankruptcy Court

As seasoned attorneys know, the lofty principles that attract aspiring lawyers can quickly be overshadowed by client emergencies, Sisyphean scheduling conundrums, unreasonable opposing counsel, billing targets, intrafirm politics, and understaffed courts. But from time to time, our esteemed judges take ...

Tagged with: Judge Dennis W. Shedd Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III Judge James P. Jones Judge Norman K. Moon Judge Paul M. Black Judge Roger L. Gregory Judge T.S. Ellis III

This case involves yet another collision between traditional methods of providing – and policing – legal services to consumers for bankruptcy matters and attempts by attorneys and creative online marketers to tap into that market on a high-volume, multi-jurisdictional basis. ...

Tagged with: Attorneys Bankruptcy Civil Practice Judge Paul M. Black Sanctions U.S. Bankruptcy Court

A former Virginia lawyer seeking to regain his license cannot dis­charge his financial obligation to the Virginia State Bar in bank­ruptcy court, a judge has ruled. Martinsville’s Rickey Gene Young has been trying to return to the ranks of Virginia ...

Tagged with: Bankruptcy Judge Paul M. Black U.S. Bankruptcy Court Virginia State Bar